Milan saw the founding of a football team in 1899 by an Englishman. Associazione Calcio Milan, or simply AC Milan, replaced the club’s previous name, the Milan Football and Cricket Club. With the exception of the Calciopoli affair, AC Milan has long been considered as a titan of the game, consistently attracting elite players to their roster and conducting business ethically. Milan has consistently featured superstars on its roster over the years. A few are regarded as the best of their generation, while a few are among the greatest ever. Below is a list of the all-time top 10 AC Milan players.
The Top 10 AC Milan Players of All Time
Jose Altafini
Alfatini had seven outstanding seasons and rose to become Milan’s second-best scorer ever during that period. Nevertheless, he is now just fourth. The Brazilian’s victories in the European Cup left a lasting legacy on the sport. Milan won the 1962–1963 tournament and became the inaugural champions after overcoming Benfica 2-1. Milan came back to win thanks to goals from Alfatini on both occasions. He had 14 for the tournament thanks to the brace.
That quantity remains the competition’s single-season record to this day, despite the reformatting as the UEFA Champions League. In 2002–2003, Ruud Van Nistelrooy scored twelve, while in 2010–2011, Lionel Messi scored the same. The record has never been this close to being broken. It might not fall for a long time. Alfatini had a significant impact on red and black as a player. He was one of those players whom a team wishes they could sign on for eternity. Alfatini left to play for Juventus and Napoli. He made the most of his Milan years and contributed significantly to the rise of European power.
Nils Liedholm
During the 1950s, Liedholm was a successful player for Milan, having played alongside Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl, and himself as part of the renowned Gre-No-Li combination of Swedish strikers. During one of Milan’s greatest periods, Liedholm was a member of four Scudetto-winning teams and ranks thirteenth in Milan’s history in both appearances and goals. Because of Nordahl’s dominance, his tenure with the team is sometimes forgotten. He played a key role in the team winning four titles.
Andrea Pirlo
Although Pirlo’s departure from Milan in June was bitterly regretted, it also provided Milan supporters with an opportunity to consider the ten years they were fortunate enough to have a player of Andrea Pirlo’s caliber. Pirlo was sold from Inter to Milan in a transfer that is uncommon; instead of relocating to a new city or stadium, he only needed to change locker rooms. Inter did not get the deal. Pirlo would go on to become one of the most influential playwrights in history. In the middle of the previous ten years, he was unmatched in his ability to control a game from the midfield.
Pirlo was making magic for Milan even as he became older than thirty. He scored amazing goals out of nothing twice in two seasons, leading Milan to victory. In a Champions League game at the Bernabeu, he first caught Iker Casillas off guard. And who could forget this screaming display against Parma in the previous season? Pirlo was Milan’s key player for ten years.
Andriy Shevchenko
The Ukrainian’s other statements are self-explanatory, save for the fact that he claimed leaving Milan to play for Chelsea was the biggest mistake of his life. The man is without a doubt one of the Top 10 AC Milan players of all time. He was an all-around amazing football player. He set the back of the net on fire during his ostensibly brief tenure at Milan. His 175 goals rank him second among Milan’s players and are probably the closest anyone will approach to Gunnar Nordahl’s record for the foreseeable future.
He consistently scored goals, not only when it was convenient for him. He would have been the best Milan player of all time and would have won a ton of trophies had he stayed with the team, but by the time he returned on loan in 2008, he had damaged his prospects of ever playing at the highest level with Chelsea. Although Shevchenko was an incredible goal scorer for Milan, his penalty kick that defeated Juventus in the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final will always be remembered.
Alessandro Costacurta
Billy played a significant role in Milan’s heyday. He was a dependable backup for many years. he played with Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Marco Van Basten. They ruled Italy and Europe for many years. His 663 club appearances rank him third all-time behind only Baresi and Maldini, and it seems doubtful that any of the three will face competition anytime soon. Together with his Golden Age teammates, Costacurta is the proud owner of one of the finest trophy cases in sports history. Their numbers were amazing.
Marco Van Basten
Regrettably, injuries kept Van Basten from contributing significantly to Milan’s squad after 1993. He had to quit in 1995 at the age of thirty-one after two years on the sidelines due to his ankle, which would never be the same. After taking over the club in 1986, Silvio Berlusconi brought in Frank Rijkaard, Van Basten, and Ruud Gullit, three Dutch players, and made an immediate, substantial investment. Before moving to Italy, Van Basten had established himself as a player for Ajax and become a celebrity.
Van Basten climbed the Milan scoring charts despite playing only seven healthy years. He was fifth all-time on the list until Andriy Shevchenko and Filippo Inzaghi overtook him. His ability to score goals was crucial to the club’s success in Italy and around Europe during what has been called the “Golden Age.” Though it was not to be, many believed that Van Basten would succeed Carlo Ancelotti before Leonardo. The Dutchman accomplished enough throughout his Milan tenure to rank among the team’s all-time greats.
Gunnar Nordahl
With nine Serie A Capocannonieres, Gunnar Nordahl holds the record. Michel Platini is the only player to have won the championship three times in a row. Nordahl had a part in Milan’s inaugural period of consistent success. With two Scudetti, he helped set the tone for Milan’s long period of success in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1950s, Milan truly began to assert itself as one of the major world powers, and Nordahl was a major contributor to that growth. As Milan’s all-time top goalscorer, he will probably continue to hold the record as no player will likely ever surpass his five Capocannoniere trophies.
Gianni Rivera
The greatest Milan legends were born out of a tendency that Gianni Rivera initiated. He spent one season representing Alessandria, his local team. He spent 19 years—13 of those as captain—playing for Milan before he retired from the red and black. It is uncommon to witness a player, particularly one with Rivera’s level of brilliance, spend their whole playing career with one team. One of the best careers imaginable belonged to Rivera. The Italian went on to smash the record for the most games played by a Rossoneri player after that one season in his hometown. Omero Tognon had the record with 342 games played when Rivera joined the team. Nils Liedholm, Cesare Maldini, and Angelo Anquilletti each set a record during Rivera’s tenure at the club.
Anquilletti set a record for the most goals by a player who left the team in 1977 when he retired. After 658 games, Rivera retired, which was an amazing accomplishment both then and now. Few players stay with one team for so long, but three players have subsequently moved up to replace Rivera on the Milan roster. In particular, during the 1960s when Milan won its first two European Cups in 1963 and 1969, he was one of the Milan team’s most important players, if not the most. He kept leading the team to championships in the 1970s, taking home three Italian Cups, a Scudetto, and a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.
Franco Baresi
Baresi was a key member of the greatest Milan football era in history, despite being one of just two Milan teams to play in Serie B. Even though Milan spent two years in Serie B after a prosperous decade in the 1970s, Berlusconi’s takeover made Milan the most powerful football team in the world for an extended period of time. As one of the last natural sweepers, Baresi helped Milan win three European Cups, five Scudetti, and the title of finest club in the world during his tenure in the back with Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta, and Mauro Tassotti.
During the final 15 years of his 20 amazing-year career, he captained Milan. For his efforts, he was crowned the AC Milan Player of the Century. He also earned a spot on Pele’s FIFA 100 list. His number six is one of the two that the team has retired thus far. Legends regard Baresi as eternal. Throughout his career, his defensive skill contributed to a club that solidified its status as the greatest in the world by winning an astounding and unprecedented number of championships.
Paolo Maldini
Although Milan has produced a number of iconic players, none are as well-known as Paolo Maldini. The all-time appearance leader for Milan also owns the records for Serie A and the Champions League. Maldini was the only player to have won those competitions almost as frequently as he did. In 25 seasons, there were five European Cups, seven Scudetti, and twenty-one major trophies. At the age of seventeen, Maldini made his debut for Milan at the close of the 1984–1985 season and went on to establish himself as a regular. At a very young age, he was thrust into the squad alongside Franco Baresi, and he performed admirably.
Maldini is regarded as one of the all-time great defenders and was truly amazing in his day. Maldini was unstoppable even after the Golden Age ended and players like Baresi and Tassotti retired. Together with Baresi’s number, Maldini’s well-known number three has also been retired by the team. It will never be worn again unless Christian or Daniel, two of Maldini’s sons, are players for the team. In the youth system are both. He is without a doubt the best player in Milan’s history. He achieved everything—honors, prosperity, and dominance—until his retirement at age 41. Though there are many other legends, Maldini is the most well-known and tops our list of The Top 10 AC Milan players of All Time.
